The 102-year-old YouTuber: Centenarian spreads the word of the Lord online
YouTube is not just a young person's game – as 102-year-old Black Country broadcaster Eric Cull has proved.
The centenarian has to be one of the oldest YouTubers around, using the popular online video site to continue speaking the word of the Lord.
Mr Cull has been reading psalms, prayers and passages from the Bible as part of his channel 'The Wayside Pulpit'.
The channel contains a number of videos, with Eric sat in a chair at his home in Wednesfield and reading from the bible or from pre-prepared material about different areas of faith, as well as special messages during Christmas and New Year.
See Eric's recital of The Captain's Psalm here:
The 102-year-old committed Christian had been recording and producing CDs of his religious readings with his wife Joyce for more than 35 years before her death in October last year, aged 76.
Life-long friend Lee Wood, who preaches at Providence Baptist Church in Coseley, said Mr Cull had been looking to continue his recordings when a conversation began with Mr Wood's nephew Chad.
He said: "Eric had been producing CDs with religious messages with his wife Joyce, which they distributed freely to the community, but that ended after Joyce's death last year.
"I was having a conversation with Eric last Christmas when he was telling me how he was concerned that he wouldn't be able to do his CDs anymore, which would stop his life's work to share the word of the Lord.
"I then said that Chad had done videos with myself on YouTube and suggested he should do the same with Eric and it was just a natural fit as they get on well."
Mr Wood said 17-year-old Chad set up the channel and began working with Eric to record the videos, then upload them to the channel.
He said Mr Cull had experience of broadcasting, having been a radio presenter on hospital radio when he was 96, as well as doing work with stations such as Beacon Radio as far back as the 1960s, and said he was a natural in front of the camera.
He said: "He really is very good in front of the camera, very lucid and comfortable talking on screen.
"You will never meet a nice, more pious man than Eric, a man who genuinely enjoys sharing the word of the Lord with everyone and doesn't ask for any rewards from it.
"It's been great to see him work with Chad as they are lifelong friends and it's been a lovely way to see different generations working together for a common cause."
Mr Cull said: "My reason for doing this channel is to comfort and encourage all people through times of difficulty and suffering."
"The Wayside Pulpit" can be found at youtube.com/channel/UCUSV65EIwrqxLEvmNs4AHDQ/featured.
